Never Better
by Val-Creative
Summary: Ever since she had been a little girl, Allura hoped for a fairytale ending of some kind. It didn't matter how it happened. She just wanted it to come true. /Modern AU. Shallura. Oneshot.


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Ever since she had been a little girl, Allura hoped for a fairytale ending.

It didn't matter _how_ it happened. She just wanted it to come true.

Allura used to imagine the wonderful, magical stories in her head, while daydreaming and humming to herself, kicking her legs back against the slippery, pink-plastic chair — her father's name was Alfor and she was a princess who was worshiped by all of the citizens of her kingdom far, far away.

A princess from _space_.

She would have elf-like ears. She would have long, colorful robes and talk like the princesses from the old foreign movies and know all about advanced technology. They would tell her that she was gracious and lovely and powerful enough to lift _two_ big men. If a princess wanted to.

The social workers, working alongside the orphanage, instead tell Allura to quit being _delusional_. Thinking about your long-term goals and passing school is what _reality_ means.

Her foster parents — Mr. and Mrs. Brooks, who had lost their 8-year-old daughter Kimberly to a devastating car accident with her babysitter around three years ago — treat her more kindly than the last parents Allura spend three months with. They encourage her dreams and her imagination.

When she turns fourteen, Allura decides she wants to be married to a _paladin_. A knight.

Someone who was chivalrous and brave and would adore her to pieces. It doesn't matter what gender they were, but she would marry them on a romantic, moonlit beach and have a family with them. Little princes and princesses who would never be afraid to _dream_ about what they wanted most.

She graduates within the top seven percentile of her class and studies for astrophyics and biology, passionate about exploring other worlds and seeing how the human condition lives up.

During one of her lectures, she meets Takashi Shirogane. A tall and handsome-looking man, a few years older than Allura, and was newly hired to assist the professor. The lecture-hall stairs are poorly designed, steep and crooked, and he rescues her. Like something out of one of her whimsical, childhood fantasies.

Allura nearly gets hit in the face by the double-doors and squeaks, falling backwards, quickly caught in Shiro's arms. Very muscular arms.

Professor Iverson's carefully prepared notes and the graded exams flutter around them like confetti. Allura locks eyes with Shiro, enthralled by his nervous stammering and blushing. She apologizes breathlessly, offering to pick up the pages he completely abandoned to help her.

The light of Shiro's widening grin turns _brilliant_.

It's the same kind of expression he gave her when Allura sobbed " _yes_ " to the engagement, her bright blue eyes filling with tears, leaping into his arms and wrapping herself to him, their dinner smoking lightly in the background of the apartment deluxe-kitchen. The same one when Shiro watched her undress, purposely slow, on their honeymoon to Paris, gleefully eyeing her. And in less than a year, it's the same overjoyed look when a moaning, sweat-drenched Allura finally gives birth to their twins.

He has been there, in sickness and in health, through Allura's fears and post-partum depression, and she has supported him through his insecurities and doubts and Shiro's own recovering illness. His body seemed to responding positively for the experimental, medical treatments.

Shiro almost married his ex-boyfriend before their relationship crumpled apart. Right before he moved out and then gradually fell in love with Allura at the university.

And then, Adam died while serving in the military.

Allura had been living with her husband in their little, cozy neighborhood at the time, during the end of the second trimester with their daughters in her belly. She could only hold Shiro against her, when the funeral service ended, as he quivered with the effort to not cry, burying his face into Allura's neck and gasping softly.

She l _oved_ this man. Fairytales always had their sorrowful chapters.

"Lance, you have our emergency contact information—"

"—on the refrigerator and on my phone, _and_ Hunk's phone— _stop worrying_ —" Lance tells her, grabbing Allura's wrists and stopping her from tripping in her heels. He laughs quietly, cradling Allura's face with both hands and meeting their eyes. "Have some _fun_ on your anniversary in Bali."

Allura echoes the laugh, halfheartedly, collecting her thoughts. She still needs to make sure the plane tickers are in her purse. As she grabs it, a voice rings out " _Moooommiiieee_!"

One of the twins runs down the hallway, wearing a paper-cone, golden crown with pink and purple ribbons streaming out behind her. A lacy, glittery playdress made of tulle and satin. Allura tuts, scooping up Kumiko. Her daughter has Allura's silvery-white hair, as well as her delicate, dark skin.

"Where's your Uncle Hunk, hmm?"

As if on cue, he stumbles in, winded and clutching an edge of the dining table. "Sorry. I was, _hhwwooh_ ," Hunk wheezes, fanning himself with a bright green, feather-boa tipped ōgi. "I was playing the wizard saving the innocent villagers from being ravaged by the dragon."

Theodora screech-roars and waves her arms, following after him.

"Dragon! _Dragon_!" she chimes, grabbing Hunk's leg. Just like Kumiko, she has a dark brown complexion but Shiro's grey eyes. And also like Shiro — that mess of fine, black hair.

Allura claps her hands to get everybody's attention.

"Kiss Mommy and Daddy goodbye! We'll be back soon!"

She goes to her lemon-colored, pantsuit knees, opening her arms as Kumiko and Theodora hug her clumsily, kissing her nose and lips, before running outside for Shiro packing up their rental car with their luggage.

 _Everything but the kitchen sink, huh,_ he commented about all of Allura's personal toiletries and matching outfits before getting pinched harshly by his wife. She can hear them shrieking, loudly and happily, as their father yells cheerfully over them, likely picking the four-year-olds up into the air and swinging them around. Shiro has on a V-embroidered, white and black baseball cap on his head, a black, fitted polo and slacks.

Once back inside the house, Shiro gently drops the girls, saying hello to Lance and Hunk.

Allura gazes between her friends, thumbing over her wedding ring. "Are you sure you both can—?" she begins, and Lance cuts her off with a " _ohmygod_ " and a good-natured eye roll.

"I have had _how_ many siblings and nieces and nephews to look after, Allura?"

"Same here," Hunk adds, smirking and clasping onto Lance's shoulder.

She fusses, hugging both men, and then watches longingly as Kumiko and Theodora chase around their kitten and shout to their uncles impatiently. "It's like we've been forgotten already," Allura mutters playfully, feeling Shiro's entire arm hug securely to her waist.

"Nothing beats a small, fluffy kitten," Shiro points out, muttering back. His lips quirking.

When they strapped themselves into the car, turning on the engine, Allura finds herself staring at the yard and then at Shiro looking uncertainly at the gears. "… I'm going to miss them too, Shiro," Allura says quietly, pushing off Shiro's baseball cap to pet her fingers comfortingly through his hair and deepening Shiro's kiss against her mouth. She wants to tell him the good news _now_.

To cheer him up. Keeping a secret like finding out she's nine weeks pregnant hasn't been easy. It's a boy, Allura thinks dreamily, feeling one of Shiro's hands slipping over her ivory-white blouse. He'll have bright blue eyes and Shiro's own complexion.

Allura rubs over the faint, round swell of her belly and leans out of the kiss, beaming.

She cannot wait for the next blissful chapter.

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 _Voltron isn't mine. This fic here is for the Shallura Secret Santa and my giftee yourcandle-onthewater! Thanks for the read and any comments are welcomed!_


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